ABSTRACT:Anthropological studies of doubt have typically highlighted its productivity, pointing to the space that doubt opens to question established frameworks. This article builds on these observations by exploring an instance of doubt that I argue is unproductive. For Pentecostals on the Zambian Copperbelt, the fact that they do not receive the extravagant riches promised by the prosperity gospel—a Christian movement that is central to their faith—is not usually a problem. Most Pentecostal believers are able to reinterpret small gains in terms of a locally redefined prosperity, and therefore manage the doubts that their lack of wealth produces. For the poorest and most socially marginal believers, however, this kind of productive engagement with doubt is not possible. The productivity of doubt is therefore more an expression of structural factors than of the nature of doubt itself. This suggests that doubt—or at least the ability to mobilize doubt effectively—is a key index of power. This article provides an ethnographic exploration of the failure of the prosperity gospel while also expanding anthropological understanding of what makes doubt productive.

中文翻译：

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怀疑的好处：论怀疑与权力的关系

摘要：怀疑的人类学研究通常强调其生产力，指出怀疑打开质疑既定框架的空间。本文以这些观察为基础，探讨了一个我认为无效的怀疑实例。对于赞比亚铜带上的五旬节派教徒来说，他们没有得到成功福音所承诺的奢侈财富——这是他们信仰的核心基督教运动——这一事实通常不是问题。大多数五旬节派信徒能够根据当地重新定义的繁荣来重新解释小额收益，因此可以应对他们因缺乏财富而产生的疑虑。然而，对于最贫穷和社会最边缘的信徒来说，这种带着怀疑的富有成效的接触是不可能的。因此，怀疑的生产力与其说是怀疑本身的性质，不如说是结构因素的表达。这表明怀疑——或者至少是有效调动怀疑的能力——是权力的一个关键指标。本文对成功福音的失败进行了人种学探索，同时也扩展了人类学对什么使怀疑富有成效的理解。